Customer Reviews

They Came to Baghdad

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"They Came to Baghdad" is not a Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple mystery. It is really more of a thriller. Victoria Jones, an indifferent London typist loses her job in a typing pool for impersonating her boss's wife and meets a charming young man in a park. Only, he is about to leave for Baghdad. Parting is such sweet sorrow! Not so, thinks Victoria. Undeterred by this obstacle to romance, the resourceful Londoner secures a job paying her passage out East. There she becomes embroiled in international espionage, is forced to flee people who are out to kill her, and finds herself working on an archeological dig. Christie writes in a mature and witty style. The descriptions of post WWII Baghdad and Basrah are fascinating, as are the fully-fleshed (for Christie) cast of characters. Does Victoria ultimately find love? Yes, but not where she expects it. A thoroughly absorbing read for any Christie fan. For another exotic A.C., check out Murder On the Orient Express (The Agatha Christie Mystery Collection)

In this 1951 novel -- which is perhaps more relevant today than in its own time -- Christie shows her remarkable talent for spinning a web of characters that, ultimately, entangles and engulfs the reader like none other of her 80 odd titles. This book offers a relatively flawless plot and an intriguing set of characters that are really just side dishes to the staggering atmosphere the reader takes from this book's pages. By the story's end you smell, see, feel, and hear every molecule that the characters experience -- and it's more than you might wish! The story is deep and complicated, and the characters are numerous, but the outcome is really nothing short of intoxicating. This is a dark horse that is very much a must-read for its eerily prophetic 1950s look into the Middle-East, which seems rather more potent in the early twenty-first century given what our world has faced as recent. The vast aroma of the Middle East never seemed so invigorating as when you are on the loose with one of the many elite members of the slow-to-start but increasingly fast-paced plot. Breathtaking description, enough to guide the reader but little enough to let you imagine on your own, sets you down running into a maze of panic and frenzy. I believe this is Christie at her best! Which is not something one should say lightly.

Agatha Christie appears to be harkening back to her earlier "young girl as adventuress" theme in this novel which centers around Victoria Jones, a protagonist who specializes in mimicry and lies. The combination gets her in endless trouble.

The story begins when she meets an attractive young man named Edward in FitzJames Gardens one afternoon. They have an immediate bonding, but Edward is scheduled to leave very soon for Baghdad in connection with his job with a cultural arts group called The Olive Branch. Not one to be easily discouraged, Victoria sets about finding a position that will allow her to follow Edward to Baghdad. Her search for him in this colorful city involves her with many suspicious characters, a badly wounded man who dies in her hotel room, and a great look at an archaeological dig, a particular specialty of Mrs. Christie's.

It is all wildly incredible, definitely improbable, but still an entertaining work with many likeable and well-drawn characters.

With all that's going on in Baghdad today, this book provides much more than just a great Agatha Christie read, it provides insights into what Baghdad was like in the 1950's.

The plot basically revolves around a young lady who follows her love interest from england to Baghdad. While she is there, she gets caught up in an underground network of people out to destroy the world forever.

Interesting imagery and descriptions of Baghdad, the Tigris, and Basrah which are kind of sad when you look at all the violence that has happened in that region since then (Iran/Iraq war, first gulf war, second gulf war).

I really enjoyed it.

I first read this book several years ago and have subsequently revisited it many times, not so much for the story which is inconsistent at best, but for the great atmosphere. In her real life, Christie had traveled extensively in the Middle East with her archeologist husband Sir Max Mallowan and her knowledge of this region enables her to paint a fascinating portrait of Baghdad. She also successfully captures a real sense of evil that has to be defeated at all costs that makes the story gripping. But the actual plot is pretty implausible - world domination from some remote area of the world? I looked up my atlas and still couldn't identify which part of the world she meant! Also, isn't it a little unrealistic that an untrained Englishwoman could just blunder her way to success when skilled spies failed? Still, I would recommend the book just for its amazing ambience and not focus so much on the story.

The more mystery books I read, the more I realize just how incredible Christie was at what she did.

This mystery centers around, not so much a murder, but the plot of a political overthrow (Is the overthrow a good thing? Or a bad thing? And even, does it exist?). Our protagonist, Victoria, finds herself suddenly placed in the middle of it all, and must decide just how involved she wants to be.

"They Came to Baghdad" has an intriguing blend of all sorts of mystery points: murder, mistaken identity, spies, lies, and even a bit of romance.

I think what really won me over was the detailed and diverse cast of characters, headed by the smart and clever Victoria, who has a fantastic imagination, and an ability to create elaborate lies and stories, but whom fails to tell convincing *true* stories. Victoria isn't really "book smart" and she's not entirely "street smart" but she's clever and has a wonderful ability to never give up, and an optimistic heart that makes her a pleasure to follow through the pages.

Not every chapter is devoted to Victoria's perspective, however, and in the beginning we have several chapters from several points of view. This could have been frustrating and annoying, but for some reason I did not find it so and was instantly drawn in and hooked to each of the mini-stories (if you do find it tiresome, I highly suggest you give the book at least 5 chapters or so, until you settle into the main plot).

This book isn't overly gruesome or graphic, and while there *may* have been a few points I'd have liked better clarification on, overall I thought the mystery was explained nicely and neatly.

Highly recommended!

When i read this book first, i thought "well, that was an average to good Christie, nothing extra special..." but now i've re-read it, i am forced to change my opinion!

This is an excellent book. Its exciting and tense, there are twists aplenty, which keep the material fresh and interesting. It's packed full of interesting and enigmatic characters. Sir Rupert Crofton Lee, Carmichael, Dakin, etc, all of whom we dont see a great deal of, but we are left wanting to know a lot more about them. A sure sign of good characters and characterisation.

The plot is intriguing, and you are never entirely sure of what is going on, who is who, what is what, etc, up until the final pages, then it all becomes clear.

The setting is great...the sweltering heat and dustiness of Baghdad is an excellent setting for this type of story (indeed, any type of story) and really adds to the atmosphere.

Victoria Jones is a likeable lead character, human and quirky. (Sometimes annoying?) But in the end, you care for what happens to her.

The backing cast of characters is large, but great. And overall, the freshness of this story, the excitement and intrigue contained within its pages, all adds up to make this a very different, but very high class Christie read.

"They Came to Baghdad" deviates from Christie's usual novels in that it fits into the spy and action genre although it still retains the best elements of her mysteries where a puzzling set of events remains unexplained until the end. It was written after her own trips to Baghdad with her second husband, Max Mallowan,an archaeologist. Two seemingly disparate stories get woven together. Anna Scheele, an American secretary for a bank, visits her sister in London and then mysteriously disappears. Vitoria Jones, a typist, accompanies a sick woman as a nurse to Baghdad and stays at the Hotel Tio. She gains knowledge of a murder and is kidnapped. The book is well worth reading to discover the end result and explanation. The Griffon Trilogy

Since I'm finding the reviews for Kindle to be somewhat haphazard I'm trying to segregate the Kindle reviews from the reviews of the books themselves:

From a non-Kindle perspective this is my favorite Agatha Christie story, and it loses nothing in translation. For more about that though, look for reviews on the paper copy.

From a Kindle perspective:
1) this has a table of contents. very useful.
2) the table of contents includes the first sentence or so of text, which makes it easier to navigate to your favorite section
3) appears to be a "true" Kindle edition, which is to say it doesn't suffer from some of the formatting issues in those books which have been adapted from the print version.

Barely competent secretary Victoria Jones is contemplating her most recent job loss when she runs into Edward in a park. They are smitten. Edward, however, must leave for Baghdad the next day. Impetuously, Victoria decides to find a way to Baghdad herself. While there, she becomes embroiled in murder and international intrigue. What message was the spy trying to pass along before he bled to death in front of Victoria? What's behind the pollyanna-ish front of the organization employing Edward and Victoria? Most importantly, will all the people able to make a difference end up dead before the world is doomed?

A nicely paced departure from Ms. Christie's usual work. Instead of a sitting room filled with a dead body and a half-dozen suspicious potential heirs, we're given mysterious organizations, exotic locales and, of course, no dearth of bodies. This book is, perhaps, most admirable for breaking Ms. Christie's tendencies. However, it is also a quick and interesting read in that fun-loving mid-century British spy fiction genre. Something of an amateur James Bond without the technological fetish - so don't expect everything to be entirely plausible. Ms. Christie's fans will want to be quite aware that, while there is some mystery, this novel is more a garish spy novel than a proper locked room conundrum.